TL/Editor: Butter Cat

    Status: 4/week mon-thurs

    Illustrations: none

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    〈 Chapter 89 〉 888. The Chapter of the Zombie and the Girl (1)

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    Crunch, crack, munch.

    Things in the shape of humans were grabbing and devouring other things also in the shape of humans.

    "Dammit—! Hwa-min, Yeon-Ah! Everyone run, don''t look back!!"

    "Wh-what the hell, Jung-eun!? Those things, until just now, there wasn''t a single one of them anywhere nearby! Why did they suddenly swarm in like that!?"

    "How should I know──!? Everyone grab a stick or something, and run instead of wasting time thinking!"

    Red, white, yellow, and back to red again.

    No matter where you looked in any direction, the world was filled with shrivelled up chunks of fat and bloody handprints.

    "What is with these things! They''re multiplying!? Did they gather like, every single one of them in the area or something!?"

    "Th-then what do we do now, Jung-eun sunbae?! The path we came from earlier is completely blocked too...!!"

    "Fuck...fuck....!!"

    Corpses that should be resting peacefully in the afterlife have shattered the laws of nature to come out and roam the streets.

    In this horrific space, as if the hell they spoke of in religion had descended upon reality, no, where even an expression like that couldn’t begin to describe the disaster unfolding before us.

    At that critical moment, right before being grabbed and devoured by those maggot-infested creatures.

    —Tap, tap!

    "—Come inside, unnies!"

    """.....?!"""

    We, as if in a scene from a movie.

    The door of a house in the distance that until just now was firmly shut suddenly had a small gap, and peeking her head out from it while waving her small hand at us telling us to come in was.

    "Heehee~ Unnies. Quickly, hurry hurry!"

    "—A girl, child?"

    We met a single young girl.

    Whether it was due to the suspension bridge effect coming to me who had been extremely agitated until then, or due to something else, I couldn’t say for sure at this moment.

    With her white hair and eyes, everything about her visible appearance was white. If this had been a dream, I might have mistaken her for a fairy. I felt my heart pounding at that beauty and mystique. S~ea??h the N?velFire.nёt website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    And standing stock still in the middle of the road, forgetting even the current situation where a horde of zombies was approaching right before my eyes.

    "....Pretty."

    I found myself murmuring those words.

    This is a record of the forty-two days I, the eighteen-year-old Lee Hwa-min, spent with that child whose everything was white, a record of everything that happened during that time when the world was hurtling towards its end.

    Something I absolutely cannot forget, that I absolutely must not forget.

    The journal of those 42 days that are more precious to me than anything else.

    **

    **

    That day was, if we were to describe it, an extremely ordinary day.

    A day when we were more concerned about what university we would go to in two years than what we would become several years later.

    A day when we were more worried about the pop quiz we would have in class a week from now than the regular exams that would be held a few months later.

    A day when we were more concerned about what to eat for lunch at the school cafeteria over the homework we had to turn in the next afternoon.

    That kind of day where nothing suits it better than the phrase ordinary.

    "────Kyaaaaaah!!"

    Along with a scream that felt like it would pierce my ears, likely belonging to someone I knew but whose name I don’t remember.

    The world, as if everything that had happened up until now was a lie, suddenly hurtled towards its end.

    Everything I had thought about, worried over, or agonized over until that day.

    Like a sandcastle on the beach swept away by the waves, unable to leave any trace that it had ever existed anywhere.

    It all lost its meaning.

    At that time, I learned that reality is sometimes more unbelievable than lies.

    The knowledge and experiences gained from education, something we had dedicated practically half our lives to since we gained consciousness, were utterly useless before the disaster that had struck.

    All that remained for us in that critical situation were the friend who by chance happened to be standing next to me, my junior in the club one year below, and the heavy backpacks hastily stuffed with food items off the shelves of a convenience store we spotted while fleeing.

    —Bang!

    ''Guys! Grab everything you see here and just shove it in for now!''

    ''...Um, Jung-eun sunbae? Hwa-min sunbae? Are, are we allowed to just take these?''

    ''Ah just do it! I''ll pay for it or give up my kidney or whatever later, so for now just shove it all in first!''

    ''Hmm... If anything goes wrong, we can just point the finger at Jung-eun.....Yeon-Ah, for now let''s grab it all.''

    ''─You damn bitches!?''

    The only reason we were able to get our hands on even that small amount of food was thanks to the insistence of Jung-eun, the most assertive among us, though her words were a little rough.

    When the incident first happened, the reality hadn''t fully sunk in yet, and the sense of morality that is now shot to hell was abundant in me and Yeon-ah back then, so the two of us could only hesitate without taking initiative.

    But Jung-eun was different.

    To us, who were wavering, she said that if any problems arose later she would take full responsibility, so we should empty our backpacks, throw away all the books, and fill them with canned food and shelf-stable instant meals. Thanks to her words, we started picking up the food we usually wanted to eat and putting them in our bags.

    After that, following Yeon-Ah’s suggestion, we took shelter in a building complex with multiple entrances and exits, where it would be easy to observe our surroundings and prepare for any unexpected situations. Finally, we were able to catch our breath.

    Thinking back on it now, it really does seem like it was a smart choice.

    Young as she may be, Yeon-ah isn''t at the top of the school for nothing.

    Anyway, after many twists and turns, on that first day we faced.

    We sat on the top floor of the building complex counting down the minutes until the rescue team that would resolve this situation arrived, occasionally making silly remarks to Jung-eun about how she was ''our hero!'' whenever she suggested we secure more food.

    ''Actually, I''ve been waiting for a friend like you for a long time.''

    ''....I believed in Jung-eun sunbae from the very beginning.''

    ''You damn bitches! Are you even human?''

    The curses we received in return were comforting enough to make us momentarily forget about our difficult situation.

    Perhaps, it was for that reason that we all tried to laugh while talking about trivial things.

    —Gyaaaaah!

    ''Eun-ji…! Why, why are you doing this!! Ah, ahhh! St-stop, stop...! aaaAAHHHHHHH─!!!!''

    ''■■■■■■──!''

    Even if just to forget the horrific scene from moments ago, when friends who had been laughing and chatting together, closer than anyone else, suddenly turned and began to devour each other.

    ''Mom...!? Mom, what''s wrong! What''s that noise next to you!!''

    ''M-My parents… they’re not answering the phone…''

    ''.........''

    In order to push away the dark thoughts and speculations of what terrible things might have happened to our families who couldn''t be reached.

    "Haha."

    [''S-save me.....! Please, help meeeEEE!!'']

    """──Hahahahaha!"""

    In order to ignore the pleas of those still being grabbed by countless zombies below, shouting for us to save them with bloodshot eyes and screaming voices.

    We kept talking, and talking, and had to keep talking.

    We shouted until our voices were hoarse, laughed until no more tears came, and stared at each other''s faces to avoid looking at our surroundings.

    Because we firmly believed that soon, everything would be resolved.

    That with a single line appearing briefly in the news, everything would end and we would return to our normal daily lives.

    But.

    ''...Why? Why isn''t anyone coming?''

    ''S-Sunbae... Look, that building...it''s burning.''

    What awaited me, my friend Jung-eun, and my junior Yeon-ah one year below.

    Was just the despairing reality of the survivors gradually disappearing from sight while the horde of zombies only grew, and the increasing number of columns of smoke rising from burning buildings in the distance.

    That''s right.

    Even after half a month had passed since the outbreak, the situation that we thought should have died down long ago was only sinking into deeper chaos.

    As time passed and more than half of the food we had prepared was gone, we realized that instead of hoping for rescue we now had to worry about what we would eat a week from now, we came to an agreement to leave our hideout in the building complex and move to a place with a large supermarket that would have relatively more to eat.

    Assuming that most people would have come to the same conclusion, we were also hoping to encounter other survivors, or perhaps even our families who couldn''t be reached, a hope that fueled our decision.

    Even if it was a futile hope.

    And so, after roughly grasping the general locations, numbers, and behavior patterns of the zombies we had observed out of boredom from the rooftop.

    We spent two days gathering weapons and equipment to clear the path and thoroughly prepared ourselves before setting off on our journey.

    But.

    Unlike what we had observed from the window, what awaited us outside was a massive horde of zombies, like a surging wave.

    And so, I.

    No, we.

    —Tap.

    "──Met you."

    "Uuu... It must have been so hard for you, unnies."

    "...Haha."

    I gazed at the child leaning against my chest and looking up at me, and took a drink of water to wet my somewhat burning throat after finishing the long story.

    The lukewarm yet clean water sloshed in the clear glass bottle.

    With a gulp, I was able to drink bottled water for the first time in a while, but.

    For some reason, the water tasted so bitter and salty, not at all to my liking.

    Yeah.

    "It really must have been hard."

    "......Ha...ha...."

    "─It''s okay now. It''s okay, unnie."

    It was so, so bitter that tears flowed out without me realizing it.

    **

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